Explanation:
Almost out of view from
our fair planet,
rotating around the
Sun's western edge, giant sunspot region
AR 10486
lashed out
with another intense solar flare followed by
a large
coronal
mass ejection (CME) on Tuesday, November 4th
at about 1950 Universal Time.
The flare itself is seen here at the lower right in an extreme
ultraviolet image from the
sun-staring SOHO spacecraft's EIT
camera.
Saturating the EIT camera pixels and detectors on
other satellites, this giant X-class
flare was among the
most powerful ever recorded
since
the 1970s, the third such historic
blast from AR 10486 within the last two weeks.
While energetic particle radiation from the flare did cause
substantial radio interference, the associated CME is not
expected to trigger extremely widespread aurorae as it glances off
the magnetosphere, unlike the
direct hits from last week's CMEs.
Say farewell to the mighty AR 10486, for now.
For the next two weeks, the sunspot region will be on the Sun's
far side.